So....
Wife had her car serviced at dealership on the 9th.
Tonight I get home and happen to notice a wheel nut on the garage floor where she parks.
Damn I think, that's not good.

She gets home and I inspect. Two adjacent nuts missing on front passenger wheel.
Re-install the one I found, check all wheels. One nut on front driver side not fully tightened.

Leave a message with service manager asking for a call back ASAP to discuss dangerous negligence on their part.

Waiting on call tomorrow.
I'm thinking they need to come and install missing nut (not safe to drive) , perhaps replace wheel bearings in case damaged. Perhaps replace studs...

Anything else I'm missing ?

Mazda 3 in case it makes a difference

This message has been edited. Last edited by: btgoanna,

Ha! My Mazda dealer sent our CX-9 home with loose lugs (all could be unscrewed by hand). They said they were sending somebody for it, which I had assumed would be a wrecker. Nope. Sent a porter in an Uber who dropped him off and left before he even rang the doorbell.

Didn't even know what was wrong with the car. He was simply instructed to pick it up and drive it back.

I jacked it up and tightened the lug nuts before he left in it.

Any damage or after effects ?

quote:

Any damage or after effects ?

No, but they were only loose.

In your case they were so loose that some came off. I could easily see stud and wheel damage at minimum.

Not going to defend the dealer, that was three weeks ago? Any chance some one was trying to steal them in a parking lot somewhere?
Just wondering, service department probably wondering too.

Doubtful.
Car only driven shopping a couple of times.
Like I said , one was on floor in garage, so most likely vibrated fully loose and finally fell off when missus drove out.
If someone was trying to steal , why two adjacent, and why none other loose enough to fall off ?

Just wondering, most likely they messed up.

It does bring back the fun times in the late 60's when Chrysler had left (drivers side) wheel studs with left hand threads.
That was an overkill on design thinking they would loosen up.
So, with that thought , the right side on your car shouldn't have fallen off.

quote:

I'm thinking they need to come and install missing nut (not safe to drive) , perhaps replace wheel bearings in case damaged. Perhaps replace studs...

That's not likely to do anything to the wheel bearings but I'd take wheels off, any that were loose, to look at the studs and the wheels where the nuts and studs contact them.

Good to know.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
So, with that thought , the right side on your car shouldn't have fallen off.

Well it would be one ot two rotations when backing out from garage, given where I found it

It is incredibly easy to mess up car services. All it takes is a moment of inattention or distraction. Even I have had it happen. Work on enough cars, day in and day out, and you'll do it too at some point, and don't tell me otherwise.

One of my former workplaces had a "buddy system" (probably from having this exact thing happen) for checking lug nuts. The primary guy would torque them, a second guy would check them, and both signed off on it. This saved me once when lug nuts came loose after I had worked on the car, but I was able to show where I did not remove any wheels.

I didn't have it happen to me, but I've seen guys, when replacing an engine, get it almost all the way in, only to find the flywheel sitting on the floor.

Work always has to be inspected after leaving a dealership or mechanic. Since you found it later, well after leaving, there is no way you can prove this was their fault. If the service manager wants to push back in any way, it doesn't seem like you have a solid case.

Hopefully, they will have better customer service than that. I checked my oil plug after one of my last 'free' oil changes on my new truck. It was barely finger tight. Glad I checked it. I went back inside and ripped them a new one.

I was taught a LONG time ago that if you are in the process of mounting a wheel, or all 4 wheels you NEVER EVER walk away from that task until every lug nut is tight. NOT FOR ANY REASON.

This is the reason why. Because peoples memory isn't worth spit and mechanics punching out won't tell the service manager that the wheels in bay 6 need to be torqued, he's punching out and he's not going to take one step that takes him off the path to that time clock.

After a service including ANYTHING under the car, our local Mr Car-fixer goes through what he calls 'spannering'. With the car on the lift, he uses a series of sockets and a torque wrenches, ring and OE-wrenches to ensure that everything is as it should be.

Only THEN does he sign it off.

Years ago I took a Honda Civic to a dealer to get some work done. When I got in the car to leave the engine light came on and I opened the hood and discovered all the belts were missing.

Went inside and the service manager came out and looked at it and declared "that is the way it was when you drove it in." After a few choice words on my part they put the belts back on.

Check your wheels, specifically, the bolt holes. Driving with loose nuts can erode them out of round.

It probably DID damage the rims.

If a porter DROVE it back with loose rims, they are now worse.

Sounds like some drug testing is in order.

They can't drug test, there would be no one left to turn wrenches.

from what I've heard, this is quite common

not sure what the local solutions are, but in Nova Scotia they passed a law that said that anyone working on tires - changes, rotations or repairs - if the work is done on a Monday then within the first 100 km of driving the shop that did the work will re-inspect the lug nuts at no cost to ensure they were done properly.